PromptPack2 - Project Plan

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Vibhor Chandel · AI for Professionals

From 20 years of running projects and teams

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These are the prompts from my video on making a project plan with ChatGPT. You get the setup, a fill-in template for each step, the exact prompts I used for the Fernhill office move in the video, and the six sample files so you can run it yourself.

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Downloads

PromptPack2 - Project Plan (PDF)

Fernhill Office Move: the six sample files (zip)

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In this pack

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Before you start

Turn memory off before you create the project: Settings, then Personalization, then Memory. That way the answers come from your files and not from your other chats.
Put a number at the front of each file name, like "1 Project Brief". ChatGPT quotes file names in its answers, so you can see which file it's reading from.
Send the prompts in order, in one chat inside the project. Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own details. </aside>

🗂️ Step 1: Load the context

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A project in ChatGPT is a folder with its own files and its own instructions. Every chat inside it can read those files, so you're not pasting the same brief in again and again. Create a project, add your files, then open the project settings and paste these instructions.

I'm the project manager for [company or team]'s [project name]. Use only the files in this project. If two files disagree, or something is missing, ask me before you assume anything. Keep answers short and in plain English. Put plans in tables.

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Quick tip. The line "ask me before you assume anything" is what makes step two work. Without it, ChatGPT fills the gaps with guesses and hands you a plan that only looks finished.

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🔍 Step 2: Find the gaps first

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Before ChatGPT plans anything, it reads every file and tells you where they don't line up. Then you answer its questions and make the one call it can't. This step has three prompts, and the first one works on any project as it is.

Read every file in this project. Before you plan anything, tell me: 1. the goal in one sentence, 2. what's in scope and out of scope, 3. every place where two files disagree or something is missing. Then ask me the questions you need answered to build the plan.

Here are my answers:

[Answer to question 1]
[Answer to question 2]
[Keep going for every question] [For the call you can't make yet:] I don't know yet. Give me three options for [the open decision], with the cost and the risk of each. Don't pick one.

We'll go with option [number], [what it is]. [Why it works]. If [what could go wrong], we fall back to option [number], and [person] [does what]. Plan to the approved [budget].

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Quick tip. "Don't pick one" is doing a lot of work. If you let ChatGPT choose, it will choose, and it'll sound very sure about it.

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🧱 Step 3: Break down the work

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This is where the plan turns into a list of jobs, each with an owner, a rough size in days and what it depends on. It works on any project as it is.

Break the whole project into phases and tasks. For each task, give an owner from the files, an estimate in working days, and what it depends on. Put it in one table.

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Quick tip. Keep the "depends on" column, because it's what lets ChatGPT build a real schedule in the next step. And read the owners column before you send this anywhere, since it can give a job to the wrong person.

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📅 Step 4: Build the schedule

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This puts real dates on every task and marks the critical path, which is the chain of tasks where any delay pushes the finish date back. Then you get a Gantt chart you can open in Excel. This step has two prompts.

Turn this into a schedule starting [day, date]. Show the milestones, mark the critical path, and flag any task that runs into [your blackout period] ([start date] to [end date]).

Make this a Gantt chart in an Excel file I can download.

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Quick tip. Put your blackout dates in the prompt, because ChatGPT can only flag a clash if it knows the dates. Then check the dates against your own holiday calendar.

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🧪 Step 5: Test the plan before you send it

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You try to break the plan before your boss does. List the risks, let ChatGPT play your boss, then turn it all into a one-page plan. This step has three prompts.

List the top 8 risks. For each one, give the likelihood, the impact, an owner, and what we'll do about it.

Now act as [name], the [role]. Read this plan and tell me the three things you'd push back on.

Write a one-page plan for [name]: the goal, the [key date], the budget, the milestones, the top 3 risks, and the decisions I need from them.

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Quick tip. When you ask ChatGPT to play someone, use their name and role from the files. It reads what that person cares about in the emails and notes, and pushes back the way they would.

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🗂️ Step 1: Load the context

🔍 Step 2: Find the gaps first

🧱 Step 3: Break down the work

📅 Step 4: Build the schedule

🧪 Step 5: Test the plan before you send it

Example

The Fernhill example from the video